62 
SANTAREM. 
Chap. I. 
ference being the gradual acquisition of eyes and wings 
in the sexual individuals during the later stages of 
growth. Termites and true ants, in fact, belong to two 
widely dissimilar orders of insects, and the analogy 
between them is only a general one of habits. The mode 
of growth of Termites and the active condition of their 
younger stages (larva and pupa) make the constitution 
of their communities much more difficult of compre- 
hension than that of ants ; hence how many castes 
existed, and what sort of individuals they were com- 
posed of, if not males and females, have always been 
puzzles to naturalists in the absence of direct obser- 
vation. 
What a strange spectacle is offered to us in the 
organisation of these insect communities ! Nothing 
analogous occurs amongst the higher animals. Social 
instincts exist in many species of mammals and birds, 
where numerous individuals unite to build common 
habitations, as we see in the case of weaver-birds and 
beavers ; but the principle of division of labour, the set- 
ting apart of classes of individuals for certain employ- 
ments, occurs only in human societies in an advanced 
state of civilisation. In all the higher animals there 
are only two orders of individuals as far as bodily 
structure is concerned, namely, males and females. 
The wonderful part in the histoi-y of the Termites is, 
that not only is there a rigid division of labour, but 
nature has given to each class a structure of body 
adapting it to the kind of labour it has to perform. 
The males and females form a class apart ; they do no 
kind of work, but in the course of growth acquire 
